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I still have a few 2013 releases to catch up with, and I though I wanted to make my Oscar nominations predictions post having seen all of them, the nods are due early tomorrow morning so I’ll have to post them now.

Elizabeth Olsen broke out big last year, with a seriously mesmerizing performance in Martha Marcy May Marlene, which I ranked as my second favorite performance by an actress in a leading role of 2011. She’s destined for great things, you just know that from watching that performance, but before we get a look at Ms. Olsen (insert here the obligatory mention that she’s the younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley) in the roles her breakthrough performance brought her, we get to watch her in a film she took on before she got all the great notices. And that film is Silent House, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau‘s remake of the 2010 Uruguayan film The Silent House.

By now you have no doubt heard a whole lot about The Hunger Games. You have heard how the trilogy of young adult novels it’s based on is so insanely popular. You heard about the exhaustive search by the studio for the right actress to play the lead role of Katniss. You heard about Jennifer Lawrence, coming off an Oscar nomination for her work in the masterful Winter’s Bone, snatching the coveted, star-making role. You heard about the casting of the rest of the roles, which were filled with truly terrific actors. You heard about Steven Soderbergh coming in as second unit director, about the great buzz, the spectacular early ticket sales. And of course you heard about the box office; this one had the third-highest opening weekend, and in the ten days it’s been in theaters it’s already surpassed the $250 million mark Stateside and the $360 million mark at the global box office. By which I mean, The Hunger Games is a true phenomenon.

Jennifer Lawrence got an Oscar nomination for the impeccable Winter’s Bone, where she proved her chops as an actress in a tremendous indie production. She also, as you may have heard, headlined The Hunger Games, which just scored the third highest-grossing opening weekend of all-time. In between projects, though, she shot House at the End of the Street, which just got a trailer which you can watch above.

The final installment in the Twilight Saga will hit theaters this November. And while The Hunger Games just scored the third-biggest opening weekend ever with a $155 million frame, Stephenie Meyer will still want a piece of that YA crowd once her mothership concludes its four-movie run.

Which is why, just as The Hunger Games is premiering, a short teaser for The Host, the upcoming adaptation of Ms. Meyers’ non-Twilight novel, was released. And it really is just that, a teaser; the film’s still shooting so there’s not a whole lot of footage available, but it’s enough to wet the apetite of its target demo, and I’d bet on a proper full trailer attached to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

The teaser is also quite short on plot, but I’ll fill you in: In the future aliens have descended on Earth, invading our bodies, taking over our consciouesness, erasing our memories. Except for Melanie, who refuses to let the alien that’s trying to get into her, named Wanderer, get full control. Which gets complicated as Melanie starts falling for one boy, and Wanderer starts falling for another.

The Host is still a long ways away, being released March 29, 2013. Andrew Niccol takes directing as well as screenwriting duties. The wonderful Saoirse Ronan headlines the film, joined by Diane Kruger, William Hurt, Jake Abel, Max Irons and Frances Fisher.

Les Misérables is a bit too over-the-top and pompous, but it’s still seriously well-made, with a passion and energy that translates to the performances (with one critical omission) even if it doesn’t always do the same with the vocals. Read my review for it here.

Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to The Hurt Locker is an undeniable masterpiece, a film that’s both disturbing and 100% necessary, the most vital film about post-9/11 America. Read my review for it here.